Wyre Forest - History

History

This historic extent of the Wyre Forest is debatable. Leaflets distributed in recent times have included Eymore Wood, in Kidderminster Foreign on the opposite bank of the River Severn, but that was merely a tract of woodland belonging to Worcester Cathedral. Another view is that once it stretched from Worcester to Bridgnorth but the west bank, but that is almost certainly too great. Strictly Wyre Forest was not a forest at all, but a chase of the Mortimer family, who had the title Earl of March from 1328. It belonged to their manor and liberty of Cleobury Mortimer. Legally, only the crown could have a forest, a subject could only have chases.

How far north the Mortimer family's hunting rights extended is debatable, but it may have included the whole area in south east Shropshire of which they were overlords at the time of Domesday Book. While they may have had hunting rights there, much of the woodland in fact belonged to other manors, such as Upper Arley and Kinlet. A large tract of woodland on the north side of the Dowles Brook was Kingswood, a detached township of the parish of Stottesdon. The town of Bewdley, a Mortimer foundation, may have been cut out of the forest. Far Forest was until recent times part of the borough of Bewdley, though separated from the rest of it by New Parks, which were in Rock parish. Most rights to land in the forest belonged to these medieval manors.

The rights of the Mortimer family passed to the crown as a result of the accession of Edward IV, who was (amongst other things) previously Earl of March to the crown. Its description as 'forest' probably dates from that period.

The extent of woodland two to three centuries ago was probably similar to that today. The manor of Cleobury Mortimer was alienated in the 16th century, leaving the crown only with the manor of Bewdley and Far Forest. Historical references to the Wyre Forest in this period seem to relate to this rather smaller area owned by the crown. In fact the crown's involvement was slight as its rights were leased to local gentlemen. One series of leases related to the manor of Bewdley, but another concerned something called the 'Wyre Forest'. This may have related to Far Forest, but that is not clear.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the forest was intensively managed as coppice to provide cordwood for the production of charcoal. The charcoal was used to fuel iron forges at Cleobury Mortimer, and at Wilden and elsewhere in the Stour valley. These supplied iron from manufacture into finished iron goods mainly in the Black Country. Charcoal burning continued into the 20th century.

A branch off the Severn Valley Railway known as the "Tenbury Line" once ran through the Wyre Forest. It broke off the main line north of Bewdley and crossed the River Severn at Dowles Bridge, the piers of which still remain. The main track has long been dismantled but the trackbed is now a walking route through the forest.